National STEM Centre Demonstration Videos are a Big Hit with Teachers

The Monkey and the Hunter, The Van de Graaf Generator, The Thermit Reaction - these are just a few of the classic science demonstrations that form some of the most memorable moments in a school science education. Often seen as the poor cousin of “proper” practical work in science lessons, demonstrations, when done properly, can provide intrigue, drama and excitement. More importantly, as Dr Keith Taber recently wrote, “if the aim of practical work is to provide opportunities for making observations, and link evidence to scientific ideas, then teacher demonstration offers greater potential for learning”.

For new or inexperienced teachers, some of these demonstrations can be intimidating to attempt, requiring equipment with which the teacher may not be familiar or seeming to be time-consuming or complicated to set up. As a result, some teachers miss out on using what can be a powerful teaching tool. As a former TV producer, I saw that a simple way to address this problem was to create videos which showed clearly how to do the demonstration, provided a correct scientific explanation of the phenomenon and included some pointers for how best to present the demonstration in class.

Working with legendary textbook writer David Sang and former children’s television producer Jonathan Sanderson (who may just hold the record for filming more science demonstrations than anyone else in the world), I have had the joy and privilege of producing a set of films which seem to have been a huge success with teachers. The response from teachers has been overwhelmingly positive with numerous comments along the lines of “Tried to set this up myself for the first time a few weeks back and didn't have much success. No problem when I tried it after watching this. Clear, concise and well explained”.

Alom Shaha teaches Physics at a comprehensive school in London.

The full collection of Demonstration Videos can be found here.